Missouri Constitution - History

History

The first constitution was written in 1820 in only 38 days. The Missouri Constitutional Convention (1861-63) was elected to decide on secession, and made no changes to the constitution.

In 1865, after the American Civil War, and again in 1875, after reconstruction, new constitutional conventions composed Missouri's second and third constitutions. In the early 1900s, the Constitution of 1875 was amended to allow constitutional amendment by the initiative process.

In the early 20th century, Missouri was dominated by corrupt political "bosses", such as Tom Pendergast of Kansas City. In reaction to this, reformers used the initiative to call for a constitutional convention, and the initiative was passed by the voters in 1942. The voters ratified the new constitution in 1945. Voters rejected calls for a constitutional convention in 1962 and 1982, and the Constitution of 1945 remains Missouri's current constitution. Since 1945, there have been more than 60 amendments to the Constitution. In recent years, some of these have been both controversial and high-profile, such as legalizing commercial gambling in 1993, Missouri Constitutional Amendment 2 (2006) (allowing the production of human embryos for stem cell research), Missouri Constitutional Amendment 2 (2004) (an amendment prohibiting same-sex marriage), and an English-only amendment in 2008.